Stories Category: Expeditions

A tribute to our brother, Ankaji Sherpa 12PM

With heavy hearts, today we farewell our friend and brother, Ankaji Sherpa. Today his spirits will soar to heights above Everest to a new world I know that will welcome him with love. See you in our next life brother.

Ankaji Sherpa (1978-2014) Loving father of six and Himalayan Ascent Senior Guide When Ankaji participated in the rescue operation for the 2012 Manaslu avalanche, I recall how torn up he was emotionally when he saw the avalanche debris. As I write this, I can’t believe this has also become his fate during his 8th Everest expedition and 14th year of guiding. It was Ankaji’s decision this year to take the responsibility of head guide rather than client personal guide, even though the position is less lucrative and holds no personal glory. With five Everest summits already under his belt, Ankaji wasn’t a guy ever interested in personal glory. He always prioritised safety, particularly client’s safety, and the team before his own personal ambitions. Ankaji was on what was meant to be a routine rotation to set up Camp 1 and 2 when the avalanche struck and took him from us. In fact, Ankaji was just being Ankaji at the time of the accident as he accompanied his brother-in-law slowly through the icefall instead of thinking of his own safety.

A local of the Makalu region, Ankaji started guiding when he was 22. This year at age 36, he beat many guides more than 10 years younger in age to win a competitive spot in the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations Aspiring Guides programme. This programme was his one personal ambition to formalise his extensive years of experience and love of mountaineering. His list of accomplishments included several 8000m summits (Everest, Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Shishapangma). His fitness was incredible, he was literally a lean mean fighting machine. Last year, after pulling off two fast ascents of Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, Ankaji came to give us a hand on Ama Dablam with hardly a moments rest in between! He was an exceptional guide respected by everyone.

However, it was Ankaji’s warm personality that really stood him out as a guide, friend and father. He was widely loved for his friendliness and team-orientated work ethic. It’s countless the number of times clients expressed to me appreciation of Ankaji’s caring nature when they felt unwell or fear during a trip. His kindness touched everyone who was fortunate enough to have known him. Undoubtably his selfless personality stems from his love for his family of six children (three daughters and three sons), whom he was raising almost single-handedly. For a guy who always smiled, laughed and loved life, you would have never guessed that life was in fact, less than easy for him. Ankaji wasn’t just a guide; he was a good friend, supportive teammate, climbing buddy and a brother. We will miss you kaji.

Himalayan Ascent will make every effort to help support Ankaji’s children. If you would like to help, please do contact us (sumit@himalayanascent.com).

Sad day for the Himalayan Ascent team 8AM

Himalayan Ascent have never had to make a post like this before, so we are lost for words how to express this:

We regret to confirm that during yesterday’s avalanche between Everest base camp and Camp 1, we lost 3 of our guides and support staff. They included our senior guide, Ankaji Sherpa, Tenzing Sherpa (Camp 2 kitchen assistant and Ankaji’s brother-in-law) and Asman Gurung (personal guide of Edwin, USA).

Fortunately, Dendi Sherpa, Ang gelu Sherpa and Anil Shrestha had already reached Camp 1 when the avalanche occurred. The boys are safe and have already returned to base camp.

Ankaji’s body was recovered yesterday and is in the process of being sent to Kathmandu to begin funeral services today. The bodies of Tenzing and Asman are yet to be retrieved. Lakpa will return from Makalu base camp today to help coordinate Ankaji’s last rites and funeral. They will conduct a 49 day puja for Ankaji. Ankaji was a key member of the Himalayan Ascent team, our entire team is grieving from this accident.

We have the families of Ankaji, Tenzing and Asman in our hearts and minds; please keep them in your prayers.

This is the worst accident in Everest’s climbing history. In total, the lives of 16 men were lost from several expeditions. Eight of the men were Khumbu locals, their bodies have already been returned to their families. Most of the men were carrying loads to Camp 1 and Camp 2 at the time. These are the men who are the true work horses of expeditions, the men who make Everest dreams come true for summit aspirants. Men who are themselves climbing guide aspirants, but still untrained, begin their experience by carrying loads for Everest climbers. Sadly they are often forgotten, let’s hope their contributions are better considered from April 18th 2014 onwards.

Blessed in Pangboche 6PM

It was an exciting day for everyone be it the folks with Everest, Island Peak or Everest base camp ambitions. This morning everyone and our guides were blessed by the Khumbu respected and revered Pangboche lama of the Pangboche monastery (oldest in the region).

After the puja ceremony and lunch, the team hiked to Pheriche where they will continue their acclimatisation schedule for the next two days.

Over in the Makalu-Barun park, Lakpa, Chris, Vance, Ngima and Galden are resting the night at Seduwa. It was a hot hike down to the Arun khola and up the over side…all good training and acclimatisation for Makalu.

Sleeping well in Mendoza 3PM

Mike, Meg and Sumit packed up and sped along the trail to Los Penitentes from BC, they completed the 32km hike in 5 hr. Must have been all that saved energy for the summit diverted to the trail home.

After killing a few hours with beer whilst waiting for the mules and other climbers to catch up, they then made the final bus journey back to Mendoza.

Their spirits have lifted after chatting to fellow climbers, some of whom were on their 3rd and 4th attempt on Aconcagua…and still failed due to weather! HA have unfinished business with Aconcagua…. we’ll be back.

Foiled by snow, back at BC 9AM

National Park services stepped in yesterday (18th) and have closed all climbs on Aconcagua for the next 3 days. Although predicted wind conditions during this time are feasible for a possible climb, the unpredicted excessive snowfall has alarmed National Park services (snowed through the night).

So there were no summits from the teams who started off from Camp 3 yesterday on their final summit push, and sadly our team was also turned around from Camp 2 back to BC.

With high winds now predicted from the 20th through to at least the 24th, the window of opportunity has now closed for Mike, Meg and Sumit. Approximately 200 people have already departed BC today due to the forecasts, and our team will also depart tomorrow to Mendoza.

It’s a 7 hr trek and a 3 hr jeep ride to wifi, showers, steak and wine to appease some of the disappointment. Despite great fitness and acclimatization, our team was very unlucky this time that the weather closed in during their scheduled week of potential summit pushes. Ah Aconcagua, until another day….

Summit push plans 9AM

The team has been resting at BC for the last 2 days, but from tomorrow they will make they way to Camp 2 on their summit bid. Strong winds have been predicted early next week so the team have a tight schedule to keep.

The next day they’ll climb to Camp 3 (5974m) where Pasang, a guide friend of Sumit’s, will join the team as extra support. From there it’s a long day to Aconcagua’s summit and return to BC.

Quite a few other teams are also following the same itinerary so there will be plenty of company along the trail. Go team!

Sleeping at Camp 2 tonight 7PM

Wanting to pack more into their 2nd rotation, the team are currently packing up Camp 1 and are heading to Camp 2 now. They had a good sleep at Camp 1 last night, and are keen to keep building up their acclimatization.

Tomorrow the team will drop back to BC and will rest to watch for their best summit window.

Rest day at Aconcagua base camp 6PM

The team reached Aconcagua base camp at Plaza de Mulas (4360m) yesterday in good time, although it was a long day. Fortunately mules carried most of the gear to spare them the load.

Today they are acclimatizing and settling into their home for the next 2 weeks. The first leg up to Camp 1 (4940m) begins tomorrow, and there are no mules or Sherpas to provide support so the guys are resting up for the haul.

Summer activities in the Southern Hemisphere for 5PM

t’s cold and chilly in Nepal at the moment, but Lakpa and Sumit have escaped into the heat of the Southern Hemisphere this winter.

Lakpa is touring in Australia, rocking climbing and reconnecting with old friends and clients. There may be an attempt on Mt Cook in New Zealand as well.

On the other side of the Pacific, Sumit is climbing the normal route on Aconcagua with Mike and Meg Hansen in Argentina.

The team will start their approach to base camp today with a 3 hr drive to their first acclimatization stop at 2400m. They will then trek for 3 days with a rest/acclimisatisation day to reach base camp at 4360m. All the good steak and Malbec in Mendoza can’t contain the excitement in the team to hit the road and start the expedition.

Too risky, current teams ending the expedition 9AM

Over the last few days, we’ve patiently waited at base camp hoping for the winds to ease and for the snow to improve. Lakpa and Dendi tried again to fix the summit ropes, but only reached another 100m above where Jangbu left the job before being turned back by soft snow that is wary of potential avalanche.

Unfortunately, our climbers have now run out of time and can’t afford to wait another week for the mountain to open up. Such is the life of mountaineering, it has its joys and frustrations. We will certainly be remembering cyclone Phailin for quite some time…

Most of team A, Kate, Chris and Christian have departed for home. Jack, Anthony and Mark already made an early escape and are enjoying the lights of Diwali in Kathmandu. Tom, Noel, Charles, Jeffrey, Christine, Candace and Greg will begin their trek to Lukla soon.

Hopefully the mountain will eventually open up this season for our coming expedition teams.